where should i apply?

College Search & Selection
1

hi! i’m having some trouble creating a definite list of colleges i am going to apply to, and deadlines are coming up so i really need some help.

i’m a senior, female, indian, born and raised in California. i got a 1420 on SAT. i am planning on majoring in something along the lines of psychology, sociology, cognitive science, etc. UW GPA is 3.6, a majority of my classes are AP and IB, some honors, and a few regular. i am part of the tech program at my high school, so i’ve been coding for 4 years (AP, IBSL, and IBHL computer science). took 4 AP exams (taking more this year), and scored a 5 on AP Psych exam. got a mix of A’s and B’s in school, and one C in precalculus. i did taekwondo for a few years, i did a summer internship (made an app), and 3 years of community service raising money to build schools in Africa.

i hope this is enough info, i would appreciate any help!

2

Congrats on your hard work and success. It would be helpful to have an idea of a range that you and your family are prepared to pay. For example, the possible answers would be different if you were prepared to pay full price anywhere or if you were limited to $10,000 per year.

Also, what appeals to you: urban, college town, rural? small, medium, large? Do you hope to stay in CA, or nearby, or is there another region that appeals? That helps narrow things down. For example, Bates is a great little LAC in Maine that I loved. It might look great to you, or horrible (very cold, and very small). Smith and Mount Holyoke are great women’s colleges and part of the five-college consortium (with Amherst, U Mass-Amherst, and Hampshire). Students can take classes, etc. at the other schools, which can provide great opportunities. I believe Smith is strong in your areas of interest (not sure about that, but think I saw it recently). Also, it is in Northampton, which I thought a fun, funky little college town. These would be match schools for you. But you may not be interested in a women’s college.

https://www.fivecolleges.edu

3

thank you! tbh, my parents aren’t really concerned about cost at the moment. they’re just encouraging me to apply first and get the acceptance/rejection first.
i was aiming to stay in CA for now, but i think i am prepared to go anywhere if i don’t get into a school that i wanted to get into. also, i want to be in a co-ed school.
again, my parents were telling me to apply, get accepted/rejected, and then take college tours to see the weather, dorms, transportation, etc. i know this process isn’t the typical/correct way to do things, but i’m the first one to go to college in the US from my family, so we’re all a little lost LOL so thank you for helping me out!

4

A key element will be your budget ad how that differs from your EFC.
Look at the Midwest schools - Macalester, St Olaf, Grinnell.
If you want a huge, urban university, UMN Twin Cities is still accepting applications for honors college and scholarships. Check out Iowa state, too.

5

Aren’t the UCs the best deal out there for CA residents? I’d say apply to some of those. Look at their websites first and see which ones appeal to you. Consult your parents, get some real income numbers and do the estimated COA tool for each college. Every year here we see parents have told their child to get accepted first only to claim they can’t afford the school. It’s a backwards way to do it. You should cull your list to fewer than ten applications because you will need to do specific essays for each school you apply to. Also consider whether you want to go far away and how you will travel. Factor the cost of travel. Good luck.

6

The UCs are of course terrific and a relative bargain (though not as much as previously). You will definitely want to apply to some of those, and maybe some of the Cal State schools, which also include some great schools.

The UCs are of course very large. CA and the West Coast have some excellent LACs but relatively few compared to some other parts of the country. So I’ll throw out a few of those that have impressed me and where you would be a reasonable candidate for admission, and some where you might be in line for some merit aid. LACs will have much smaller classes than at the UCs, if that appeals to you. It’s a bit of a random list, I admit, but maybe one of them will jump out at you.

Denison University–very beautiful campus near Columbus, OH, which provides good internship/coop opportunities. I think you’d be in line for some aid there.

Rhodes University–in Memphis, so more southern, also a very beautiful campus and excellent academics with small classes and close prof-student interaction.

Macalester College–recommended above, a very urban LAC with an international focus. Also very cold.

University of Richmond–fun city, larger LAC, beautiful campus, vibe is southern preppy, if that is a positive or negative.

Bates College–okay, in Maine and very cold, also small town and would be difficult for you to get to, which is a consideration. I loved the campus and the vibe, you might love it or hate it. It looks like it might be strong in your areas of interest.

College of William and Mary–public national university, though relatively small for this category (6500 undergrads), also beautiful campus and top academics, great student body, probably more of a reach than a match for you. It costs less than the others (privates) but you’d be less likely to get aid here.

7

thank you everyone! i have applied to UC’s, all except Davis, Merced, and Santa Cruz.
i’ve never heard of these schools, so thank you once again!
would you guys have any recommendations for more well-known (brand-name ?) schools? just curious as to where else i might be able to apply

8

just to add- i like going out a lot and spending time with friends. i guess im looking for more of a big city type of school (for example, i loved UCI’s campus because there was a large shopping mall a few minutes away)
ive never been to the midwest so im not sure how well i would fit in there.

9

All these schools are “brand-name” if not “elite” schools. They’re not on the West Coast so you’ve not heard of them, but open a Fiske Guide or a Princeton Review’s Best Colleges and you’ll see these are topnotch.

10

Some I recommended sound like they’d be too small. You still might look at William and Mary. It always appears on Top 10 public university lists (with Berkeley, UVA, UNC, UT-Austin, Michigan, etc.) Williamsburg is a town, not a city, but very beautiful area adjacent to campus with coffee shops, pubs, restaurants, delis, some shopping, etc. At 6500 undergrads, it’s not a small school, but not a mega one either. Academics are top notch. Weather is very nice. 30% OOS students. I don’t think the CA publics have anything like it.

Richmond is very nice as well, and it’s in a nice area and close to a fun downtown area. You might get some aid. But it is probably less diverse than your CA community.

You might go to US News and World Report national university rankings and look through the schools ranked 30-80. Not to say you’d not be accepted to those in the Top 30 (Harvard, Stanford, Duke, MIT, JHU, etc. but they are pretty insanely competitive today). You’ll find a lot of great schools there, including some of the UCs. Some that look like they might appeal are Tulane, University of Miami, and Boston University. I’d think UT-Austin and the University of Florida would be potential choices, but they take a very low number of OOS students (5% and 7% respectively, last I saw). They emphasize finding space for in-state students.

All those LACs I listed are excellent schools, if less well known out west.

11

okay, thank you!! i definitely need to do more research on out of state schools. this helped me out a ton! :slight_smile:

12

Whoops, I meant Rhodes College in Memphis. I know someone who goes to Rhodes University–in Grahamstown, South Africa.

https://www.rhodes.edu

13

IF you want to stay in California, look at Loyola Marymount, University of San Francisco and Chapman University.

14

A lot of Californians seem to like Southern Methodist Univ in Dallas and Univ of Colorado in Boulder. Sounds like you are a social person and I believe both are very social. You will also have access to shoppping and there are lots of places to “go out”. Good luck.

15

Run the NPC on each of one UC, LMU-LA, Grinnell, St Olaf, Rhodes, URichmond. Bring the results to your parents - you’ll see they’ll all be different and you’ll be able to discuss with them which ones they can afford from income and savings (do they have a college fund for you, for instance?)

16

Competitive out of state publics like UT Austin and William and Mary are unlikely for these stats. Quite unlikely.

17

@MYOS1634 yes! we do have a college fund

18

@roycroftmom is there anything i should do to fix it/increase my chances? please let me know :slight_smile:

19

How much do you have in your college fund?
Have you run NPCs and brought results to your parents to discuss actual numbers?
This is VERY important - each spring so many seniors post that they can’t attend their dream school because their parents can’t pay, or that they don’t have any college to go to because parents didn’t specify an amount and now all are unaffordable, etc. it’s very common and it’s sad because if the student had had a budget s/he could have applied to “good fit” colleges where s/he could actually attend and be happy with.

20

@MYOS1634 i’ll ask my parents about the fund.
thank you! this is something i need to bring up to them, as we have never discussed this before.